


It's A Risk To Even Fall In Love

by WinterSky101



Category: Legion of Super Heroes - All Media Types, Legion of Super-Heroes (Comics)
Genre: Asexual Character, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Friends to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, Legion Reboot Era, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Reboot Legion, Science Experiments, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 11:30:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19886911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterSky101/pseuds/WinterSky101
Summary: Brainy decides he wants to experiment with sex. Lyle, as usual, gets dragged along for the ride.





	It's A Risk To Even Fall In Love

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in the Post-Zero Hour reboot, after the events of the 2001-2004 run _The Legion_. While the ages of various Legionnaires were never explicitly stated (as far as I can tell), I imagine both Brainy and Lyle as being over eighteen here.
> 
> Title comes from "Sleeping with a Friend" by Neon Trees. (And if you're interested, tumblr user brainy-storm has a short fanvid set to this song that you can find [here](https://brainy-storm.tumblr.com/post/184785072643/losh-week-2019-day-5-a-ship-or-friendship).)

"I want to have sex."

Lyle spat a mouthful of orange juice across the table. Brainy made a face and shifted slightly to the side to avoid it.

"You want to _what_?"

"I want to have sex," Brainy repeated, so apparently Lyle hadn't misheard him. "I'm curious about the specifics of how intercourse works. And most people seem to enjoy it greatly, so I want to run an experiment to see if I would enjoy it as well."

Given that it was Brainy, the explanation actually made a lot of sense. It definitely wasn't the weirdest thing he'd decided to experiment with. Lyle still remembered the Bizzaro Legion.

"Okay," Lyle said. "I mean, you're an adult, so you can do whatever you want. Just be careful who you pick to, uh, help you in this experiment. Be sure it's someone you can trust."

"I don't plan on walking into a strip club and having sex with the first person I see," Brainy said derisively.

"Then how are you going to find someone?"

"I was thinking I would have sex with you."

Lyle was glad he wasn't drinking anything that time. One spit take per conversation was more than enough.

" _Me_?"

"It's a logical idea," Brainy replied, sounding a little bit petulant, like he couldn't understand why Lyle couldn't see this himself. "You're attracted to men, you're not currently in a relationship, and I can trust you."

"You don't want to have sex with a girl?"

"Perhaps another time."

This was a bad idea, Lyle was certain. Under no circumstances should he have sex with Brainy. It was a very, very, _very_ -

"Okay," Lyle heard himself saying.

Brainy looked a little surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah," Lyle said. Why he said it, he had no idea, but the words came out before he could stop them. "Sure. When do you want to do it?"

"I'm ready whenever you are," Brainy said. "Does tonight work?"

This was so dumb. This was so, _so_ dumb-

"Sure, tonight works."

Brainy smiled. "I'll see you tonight, then!"

He left, and Lyle let his head fall on the table with a thump. He shouldn't have agreed to this. He should never have agreed to this.

This was _such_ a bad idea.

* * *

The thing was, it wasn't that Lyle didn't _want_ to have sex with Brainy. In fact, the issue was the exact opposite. He _did_ want to have sex with Brainy.

Just not like this.

Lyle had maybe been nursing a crush on Brainy - a very stupid, never-would-be-reciprocated-in-a-million-years-and-he-knew-it crush - for a few years now. And he _knew_ Brainywould never like him back, not like that, but unfortunately his heart wasn't as logical as his brain, and so the crush stuck. He was pretty sure he'd been able to hide it from Brainy and everyone else (although he suspected Ayla may have figured it out, and he probably hadn't actually been able to hide it from Imra, whether she mentioned it or not), and that was the way he wanted it.

And now he was going to have sex with Brainy, and if he and his crush got through this unnoticed and unscathed, he would be very, very shocked.

* * *

Brainy knocked at Lyle's door that night after dinner, an omnicom in one hand and a bag of god-knows-what in the other. "I brought a few supplies," he said, entering Lyle's room and setting his bag on the bed. "I have condoms and lubricant, as well as a few medical tools to check my condition before and after we have sex. I need to be able to compare the two."

"Okay," Lyle said, because of _course_ Brainy would want to do a thorough medical examination before and after sex. "Do you want to do your examination now, or..."

"Now is good," Brainy said, opening his bag and pulling a variety of medical instruments out. He promptly began checking his pulse, marking it on his omnicom. Not quite sure what he should be doing - none of his previous sexual encounters had included a preliminary medical exam - Lyle took the bag off the bed and set it on the floor, then shot Brainy a quick glance and, when he didn't seem to object, began digging around in the bag for the promised condoms and lube. They were easy to find, and in what was a bit of an odd twist, both were Lyle's preferred brands. Lyle considered asking if that was purposeful, then decided he probably didn't want to know.

"Alright," Brainy said after a few minutes. He had put away all of his supplies, and he'd set his omnicom aside. "I'm ready."

"Okay," Lyle said. "Uh, do you know which position you want to take?"

"From my research, it seems to me that bottoming may be more straightforward for a first attempt," Brainy said. "But you are more knowledgeable than me in this situation, so I defer to your opinion."

Lyle considered asking Brainy to repeat the bit about him being more knowledgeable so he could record it for posterity, but he decided against it. Sex with Brainy would undoubtedly be uncomfortable enough without Brainy being pissy through the whole thing.

"Bottoming is probably easier," Lyle agreed. "And I've topped before, so I know what I'm doing."

"Very well," Brainy said. "Perhaps next time, I will attempt topping."

"Next time?" Lyle asked, very proud that his voice didn't squeak.

"Obviously, I need to perform multiple trials," Brainy said. "I intend to perform a few trials with a male partner, and a few with a female partner. And I believe the experiment's findings will be more reliable if all gendered trials were done with the same person."

"That's not going to tell you much about sex at large," Lyle countered. "It'll just tell you about sex with those two people."

Brainy frowned. "Is it particularly different with different partners?"

"Trust me," Lyle said, "having the right partner, someone you love and care about, makes all the difference in the universe."

Brainy's frown deepened. "Perhaps I have to rework some parts of this experiment."

"Do you want to postpone this until you do?" Lyle asked, gesturing vaguely between himself and Brainy. "It's okay if you do."

"No," Brainy said, shaking his head. "No, I think we can go forward with this trial as planned. I'll just have to do more trials with more people. And maybe I'll only do one trial per person."

"Okay," Lyle said, nodding to himself. "Okay. So we're still doing this."

"Unless you have second thoughts," Brainy said, which was unusually insightful for him. "I don't intend to coerce anyone into sex. If you feel coerced-"

"I don't," Lyle said, because he didn't. Brainy hadn't talked him into this. He _wanted_ this. That was, of course, the whole problem, but Brainy didn't need to know that.

"So you want to go through with this?" Brainy asked.

"I do." God help him, he did.

Brainy nodded. "Alright. Then I assume we should probably remove our clothes, yes?"

Oh God, Lyle was about to see Brainy naked.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good first step."

Brainy seemed a little uncharacteristically nervous to remove his clothes, so Lyle averted his eyes. He was fairly confident in his body, so he didn't have the same hesitation in taking off his own clothes. He knew he wasn't as buff as some of the other Legionnaires, but he put in his fair amount of time in the gym. He knew Brainy did too, although he was pretty sure Brainy put in as little gym time as he could.

"I'm prepared," Brainy said after a moment, and Lyle turned around.

Brainy wasn't as muscular as Lyle was, but, to Lyle's momentary surprise, his body had a lot of scars. After a moment, Lyle was able to pair most of the scars to injuries he'd seen Brainy receive - the small puncture scars on his abdomen were from Shara Nux trying to kill him during the Robotica crisis, the light burn scars were from Brainy's mother trying to burn him alive with his own force field - but at first glance, they were shocking.

Brainy seemed to know that, because he crossed his arms tightly over his chest, clearly trying to hide as many scars as he could. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing at the bed.

"Sure," Lyle said. "How exactly, uh..."

"What?" Brainy asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What position do you want to do this in?"

"I thought we already agreed I would bottom."

Lyle was going to die, this was going to kill him. "Yeah, but there are different ways- Look, let's keep this simple, do you want to lie on your back or on your front?"

"My back," Brainy decided. "Unless you think I should lie on my front."

"No, back is fine," Lyle said. "So, uh, now I should put on the condom, and- Do you want me to prepare you, or do you want to do it yourself?"

"How exactly do I prepare myself?" Brainy asked with a frown.

"Yeah, okay, I'll do it," Lyle muttered. He took a deep breath. "Are you ready?"

"I believe I am," Brainy said. "Will you keep me appraised as to what we're doing as we go on?"

Lyle wondered if he could manage to make that sexy, then wondered if Brainy would _want_ him to be sexy at all. This wasn't exactly the most sensuous sexual experience he'd ever had.

"Of course," he said.

Brainy nodded. "Then I'm ready."

Lyle swallowed, then nodded back. "Then let's do this."

* * *

"So," Lyle asked, staring up at the ceiling, "what did you think?"

"Sex involves many more fluids than I thought it would," Brainy said, sounding a little disgusted. "I had thought that, with your condom, it would be cleaner."

"I mean, if you'd worn a condom, it would have been a bit cleaner, but most people don't wear condoms if they're not, you know… penetrating anyone," Lyle said. How was this his _life_? "You could do it next time, though, if you want."

"Perhaps I will," Brainy mused. "Will that make it cleaner?"

"Sex is always going to be messy, even with condoms," Lyle said. "That's part of sex." He dared to look over at Brainy, who was in the middle of his post-sex medical exam. "I didn't think you minded things being messy."

"Normally I don't, but…" Brainy made a face. "This mess is different from having papers all over a desk in my lab. These are _bodily fluids_. It's disgusting."

Lyle shrugged. "It's part of sex. If you don't like it, you could stop your experiment now."

"I didn't entirely dislike it," Brainy said. "And it would be highly unscientific to stop the experiment after only one trial." He finished his exam and set aside his omnicom. He was still naked, but Lyle had just put his dick in Brainy's ass, so he wasn't really feeling very prudish about nudity.

Oh, god, Lyle had just _put his dick in Brainy's ass_.

"What did you think?" Brainy asked, looking over at Lyle. "Did you find the experience enjoyable?"

"Yeah," Lyle said, because unbelievably, he had. Brainy had clearly been virginal and inexperienced, and it hadn't been particularly _sexy_ sex, but it had still felt intimate, and Lyle was more than far gone enough to appreciate any sort of intimacy with Brainy.

"Good," Brainy said. He seemed like was going to say something else, but he cut himself off with a yawn. "I feel fatigued," he said. "More than I would expect, given the time."

"Sex can be like that sometimes," Lyle said. "You can stay here for the night if you want."

For a moment, Lyle thought Brainy was going to accept the offer, then he shook his head and swung his legs off the side of the bed.

"I will return to my room," Brainy said, facing away from Lyle. "Thank you for helping with this trial."

"Will you want to run another one with me?" Lyle asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.

"Perhaps," Brainy said. "Given what you told me about the importance of a partner, I will have to rework some parts of my experiment."

"I can help with that, if you need it," Lyle offered.

"Perhaps," Brainy said, standing and beginning to pull on his clothes. "Thank you for your help, Lyle."

"Any time," Lyle said.

Brainy nodded once, then he left the room, clothes on and bag at his side. Lyle watched him go, then flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

How the hell had he managed to get through potentially the most awkward sex of his life with a stronger crush? He'd even managed to _enjoy_ it, despite the fact that Brainy had asked a lot of weirdly scientific questions and hadn't seemed to understand what he was supposed to do when Lyle entered him.

Really, it was no more than Lyle should have expected when it came to sex with Brainy. Awkward, weirdly scientific, and yet still somehow hot.

Lyle groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. What was he supposed to do now? God, what if Brainy wanted to experiment with him again? Lyle had told Brainy that he was willing to help in whatever way Brainy needed, but he didn't know if he could survive sex with him again.

And yet… As much as the thought of having sex with Brainy again set of a veritable fireworks display of conflicting emotions in Lyle's gut, the thought of Brainy having sex with other people instead made that fireworks display look like a couple of sparklers. Lyle knew he had no right to feel possessive over Brainy, but he didn't like the idea of Brainy going to random people for sex. He wondered for a moment if it really _would_ be random people, or if Brainy would stick to members of the Legion, but the thought of Brainy sleeping with another member of the Legion was somehow even worse. On the bright side, Lyle was fairly certain there was no other member of the Legion who would agree to it, so that was something. Lyle was probably the only one willing to do _that_.

He groaned again, punched his pillow a few times to mold it into the right shape, and told himself firmly to go to sleep. Things would look clearer in the morning, right?

Except the bed smelled like sex and like Brainy, and Lyle was going to lose his mind if he stayed there much longer.

Well, he thought, getting up with a sigh, it probably wasn't a bad idea to change his sheets anyway. He'd just have to make sure that absolutely no one else saw these ones.

* * *

The next morning, Brainy didn't mention a single thing about what had happened the night before, leaving part of Lyle's brain wondering if it hadn't just been a bizarre fever dream. That would make more sense, right? Brainy and Lyle didn't really have sex, did they? That didn't actually happen, did it?

And then Brainy came up to Lyle that afternoon, holding his omnicom, and said, "I have reworked parts of my experiment."

Oh, okay, it was real, they did have sex after all. Huh. How about that?

"Oh, cool," Lyle said. "Uh, what did you rework?"

"I took your comments into consideration," Brainy said. "About how doing all of my trials with two people would not tell me much about intercourse at large."

"Oh, right."

"So I believe I will only perform one trial with each person," Brainy finished. "Do you think that would be more effective?"

"Uh, yeah, probably," Lyle replied. "So you're not doing another trial with me?"

"No, I don't believe so," Brainy replied. Lyle wondered if he was upset or relieved. "Unless I rework the experiment again."

"Okay, cool."

Brainy frowned slightly. "Are you alright? You're acting odd."

"I'm fine," Lyle replied. He might have answered a little too quickly to be casual. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"I don't know," Brainy replied. "But you're acting odd."

"I don't think I'm acting odd," Lyle said. It was a lie; he was definitely acting odd. He just couldn't admit that to Brainy, because then Brainy would ask why, and Lyle would have to say that it was because he was still having a bit of an emotional breakdown after finally having sex with the person he'd had a crush on for years, no big deal.

Yeah, _that_ wasn't happening.

"Very well," Brainy said, although he was still eyeing Lyle oddly. "Do you have any suggestions as to where I could go to find more sexual partners?"

"Uh, not really," Lyle replied. "I mean, it sort of depends on what you want, really. I know you said you weren't planning on going to a strip club, but some sort of nightclub might work."

"Hmm. Perhaps." Brainy nodded once, half to himself. "Thank you for the advice."

"Any time."

And then Brainy was gone, and Lyle was back to his regularly-scheduled emotional breakdown.

It was okay. It was! It was fine. It's wasn't a problem at all. Lyle could handle this, no problem. It was hardly even worth thinking about. His relationship with Brainy would just go back to the way it was before. That was it. This didn't change anything.

Except that was the problem, this wouldn't change anything, and Lyle wished it would.

It was stupid to admit it, but he'd almost been hoping that he and Brainy would have sex, and Brainy would have an epiphany, and he'd tell Lyle he'd always been in love with him and Lyle would tell Brainy he'd always been in love with him too and then they'd ride off into the sunset or something else equally cliché. And it was stupid, and Lyle knew it, because that would never happen, but part of him had almost been expecting it anyway. But Brainy's behavior today… Well, that pretty much erased any hope of _that_. Clearly, Brainy had seen the sex as nothing but a professional courtesy (how was this Lyle's _life_ ) and still thought of their relationship as entirely platonic. Which was fine. It was _fine_.

At least Brainy hadn't found out about Lyle's crush. That would have been all he needed.

Lyle shook himself and gave himself a little mental slap for good measure. He needed to stop thinking about this. He was a Legionnaire, for God's sake. He couldn't just sit here wallowing about a stupid crush. He and Brainy were still friends, weren't they? That was what was important. Lyle could live without a romantic relationship. He'd done it so far, hadn't he?

_But the next time Brainy asks to have sex for an experiment,_ he told himself firmly, _say no._

Hopefully, that wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

If Brainy was continuing his experiment, Lyle didn't know about it. Almost two weeks went by, and he heard nothing about Brainy having sex with anyone. He and Brainy still worked together in the lab, and they still chatted over lunch most days, and all in all, it was mostly like nothing had ever happened between them. Which was, Lyle reminded himself, a good thing. Nothing had changed in the way he'd secretly hoped it would, no, but nothing had changed for the worse either. They were still good.

And then, one day, Lyle entered the lab to find Brainy scowling down at his omnicom, clearly stymied by the results in front of him.

"What's up?" Lyle asked, looking over his shoulder. "Something go wrong with an experiment?"

"It's my foray into sexual intercourse," Brainy said, making Lyle immediately regret asking. "The results are… puzzling."

"Are you done with it?" Lyle asked, because the curious side of him had won out over the logical side that was yelling, _DON'T ASK DON'T ASK DON'T ASK-_

"I believe so," Brainy said. "I have engaged in intercourse with nine different people over the past fortnight. Three of them identified as male, three identified as female, and three identified as something outside the gender binary. And the results" - he scowled at his omnicom again - "do not make _sense_."

"Want me to help?" Lyle offered, because his logical side hadn't quite managed to beat his curious side to death yet.

"No, thank you," Brainy said, still making a face.

"Want to do something else for a bit to get your mind off it?"

"I have twelve thought tracks; my mind will be 'on it,' as you say, no matter what we do."

"Yeah, but it might be less on it if we do something else."

Brainy cast one last irritated expression in the direction of his omnicom, then he looked up at Lyle. "Fine. What do you want to do?"

Lyle hadn't thought quite that far ahead, but…

"Want to help me with one of my experiments? I'm trying to come up with a way to counter the invisibility serum that gave me my powers."

"Why?" Brainy asked, frowning.

Lyle shrugged. "Mostly just because I can. And in case anyone else ever gets their hands on the serum. I don't like the idea of other people being able to use it. What do you think, do you want to help?"

He knew Brainy would say yes, but he still waited through the few moments Brainy took to think it out before he agreed. "What progress have you made so far?"

"Let me show you," Lyle replied, and he brought Brainy over to his side of the lab and did his best to engross him in the counter-serum. He knew he likely wouldn't be able to distract Brainy entirely - as he said, he had twelve thought tracks - but he could do his best anyway.

Soon enough, however, lunchtime came (and went, if Lyle was being honest; they only realized what time it was when Luornu came in and demanded to know if they'd eaten yet because there was no way they were missing meals on _her_ watch), and the lack of a distraction meant that Brainy was back to studying his omnicom. Lyle watched him, wondered if it were better to know what the problem was or to live in ignorance, then decided that the ignorance would probably bug him more.

"What's the problem?"

Brainy's head jerked up. "What?"

"The problem with your research," Lyle said, nodding at the omnicom. "What's not adding up?"

"It's… It's simply…" Brainy looked down at the omnicom. "I have an outlier in my results, and I can't figure out where it comes from."

"An outlier?"

"Eight of the nine sexual encounters were entirely comparable," Brainy explained. "But one of them was different, and I can't figure out _why_."

Lyle wondered which "sexual encounter" was the outlier, then immediately decided he didn't want to know. Anyway, Brainy hadn't said whether it was a good or bad outlier. For all he knew, one of the people had tentacles and Brainy wasn't into that. That _did_ seem like the sort of outlier that Brainy would be able to figure out on his own, but…

No. No, he wasn't going to ask. Lyle _really_ had to figure out a way to make the curious part of him shut up.

"Do you need help?" he asked, hoping Brainy would say no. "Maybe another set of eyes would help."

Brainy, to Lyle's surprise, slid the omnicom a little further away from him. "No, thank you. I will figure this out on my own."

And, okay, that was weird. Not Brainy refusing Lyle's help - he did that sometimes, and Lyle had learned not to take it personally - but the fact that he seemed almost nervous about Lyle looking at his results. What was there that Brainy didn't want Lyle to see? Was it something about Lyle himself? Was Lyle the outlier? Had sex with Lyle been so awful it was throwing off Brainy's calculations? No, that couldn't be, Lyle was being ridiculous, but what if he wasn't?

"I have an idea for your counter-serum," Brainy said. Lyle couldn't tell if he sounded desperate to change the subject or if Lyle were just projecting.

"Lay it on me," Lyle replied.

They didn't bring up Brainy's experiment again for the rest of the day, but that didn't mean Lyle didn't spend almost every waking minute thinking about it.

* * *

It took two days for Brainy to finally crack, but crack he did. "Lyle," he called, bursting into the lab in a rush, "I need to talk to you."

"Uh, sure," Lyle replied, putting down the eyedropper he was holding and lifting off his goggles. "What's up?"

"Your results," Brainy said, lifting up his omnicom. "They are an outlier, and I can't figure out _why_."

"My results are the outlier?" Lyle repeated, feeling something twist in his stomach. "In what way?"

Brainy huffed. "Sex was, for the most part, entirely underwhelming and far too messy to bother with. I didn't enjoy it at all."

"Oh."

"Except," Brainy said, jabbing at the omnicom in annoyance, "with you."

Lyle blinked. " _Oh_."

"Empirically, it was entirely comparable to the other encounters," Brainy continued. "It actually took you longer to bring me to completion than it did two of the other subjects. But I still found sex with you to be far more enjoyable than with anyone else, and I don't understand _why_."

Lyle stared at Brainy for a long moment. "Give me a second," he finally said, turning to neutralize the half-completed counter-serum he'd been mixing up. That would mean the loss of his work, but he could do it again, and he didn't think this was a conversation he wanted to have while distracted. Once the serum was properly disposed of, he peeled off his gloves and turned back around. Brainy was still looking at him expectantly, a hint of annoyance and some other emotion Lyle didn't dare name in his eyes.

"First," Lyle said, deciding to start with the marginally easier topic, "sex isn't a race. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to bring someone off. So the fact that it took me longer than some of the other people doesn't mean anything." Had Brainy been _timing_ that? He must have been. Lyle probably shouldn't have been surprised.

"That still doesn't explain why your encounter was such an outlier," Brainy retorted.

Lyle sighed. "Remember what I told you about how sexual partners affect your perception of sex?"

"Yes."

"Do you think that might have had anything to do with it? I mean, that it was me?"

Brainy frowned. "I suppose I trust you more than I trusted the other people. You are a friend, and they were strangers."

"That makes a big difference," Lyle agreed.

"Enough to make it enjoyable instead of underwhelming?" Brainy asked. "I disliked sex with everyone but you."

"Having the right partner can make all the difference in the world."

Brainy hummed, clearly deep in thought. "Ayla thinks it's because I'm in love with you."

Lyle stared at Brainy, opened his mouth, then gave up on the thought of speaking and just stared some more. He wasn't even sure where to _begin_ with that.

"You talked to Ayla about this?" he finally croaked.

"I wanted to discuss it with someone independent of the experiment," Brainy replied. He sounded a little defensive. "And Ayla seemed a good choice."

"And Ayla thinks…" Lyle couldn't finish the sentence.

"Ayla thinks I'm in love with you," Brainy finished for him. "And she believes that was the reason for the inconsistency in my results."

"And what do you think?" Lyle asked.

Brainy took a moment to think, then his throat bobbed as he swallowed visibly. "I think," he said, "that I need to perform another trial in my experiment. With you."

And, see, Lyle had never really _hoped_ before, not like this. He'd never let himself hope. And now he _was_ hoping, and it felt good in the moment, but if this didn't end up working out, if Brainy changed his mind…

_The next time Brainy asks to have sex for an experiment, say no,_ he remembered promising himself.

Saying no was probably the better idea. No, it was almost definitely the better idea. He should definitely honor his promise to past-Lyle and say no.

Definitely.

_Screw you, past-Lyle._

"Anything in the name of science."

* * *

They lay on Lyle's bed, naked and sticky and utterly silent, and stared at the ceiling. Words bounced around in Lyle's head, but none of them could quite make it all the way to his tongue. That was probably for the best; Lyle had no idea what the right thing to say in this situation was, and he really didn't want to say the wrong thing.

"I have come to a conclusion," Brainy said, after almost half an hour of lying in silence.

"Lay it on me," Lyle said, wishing his heart would stop thumping quite so hard.

"I do not enjoy sex," Brainy stated. "It is messy, and it is awkward, and orgasming is not enjoyable enough to justify the effort."

"Oh," Lyle said dully. He was still staring at the ceiling. He was pretty sure past-Lyle was shaking his head in disappointment and saying _I told you so_. "Okay."

"But," Brainy continued, "I think I enjoy the intimacy. With you."

"Oh," Lyle repeated, his tone very different this time.

_Take_ that _, past-Lyle!_

"And I think," Brainy added, "that Ayla may have had a point."

Lyle's heart was pounding so loudly he wouldn't be surprised if Brainy could hear it. "You do?"

"Love is not logical, so I've never really given it much thought," Brainy said. "But my feelings for you are not the same as my feelings for the rest of the Legion. I…" His voice trailed off. "Do you have feelings for me?"

"Brainy, I've been in love with you for years."

Oops, had he said that out loud?

Lyle didn't dare look away from the ceiling. The words were out there now, he supposed. It felt almost freeing, if he avoided thinking about the gut-wrenching terror that came along with it. But now Brainy knew, and yeah, that was absolutely _terrifying_ , but it also meant that maybe they could get somewhere. Lyle might have been able to turn invisible, but even he couldn't hide forever, even if that did sound pretty nice right now.

"I think," Brainy said hesitantly, "that I am in love with you as well."

Lyle's heart almost stopped.

"You _think_?" he asked in a slightly-strangled voice. "Brainy, I'm gonna need a little more than that."

Brainy was silent for a long moment. Lyle could practically hear his fancy Coluan brain whirring, his twelve thought tracks probably going at top speed. Lyle wondered how many he merited right now. Two? Three?

Brainy was always very careful about making definitive statements. If he made one now, Lyle knew he could believe it. And if he didn't…

Well, worst case scenario, Lyle could always turn invisible and hide out in his room for the next week or so. He certainly deserved the vacation time.

"I know," Brainy said, "that I love you."

All the air left Lyle's lungs in a _whoosh_.

"Oh," he said, and he promptly kicked himself as hard as he mentally could. "Oh"? Really? _That_ was his response? God, he was such a disaster.

"But I still don't enjoy sex," Brainy added.

"What about kissing?" Lyle asked, finally daring to look over at Brainy. "What do you think about kissing?"

"I haven't done it often enough to form an opinion."

Lyle grinned a little. Sprock, he loved Brainy. And Brainy, somehow, _miraculously_ , loved him back.

"Wanna change that?"

There was a small smile on Brainy's lips as he leaned in.

* * *

Ayla looked fairly smug when she saw them next, and a couple of other Legionnaires grinned or rolled their eyes, but considering Lyle and Brainy were holding hands and had decided that they were boyfriends - _boyfriends!_ \- Lyle really couldn't bring himself to care.

**Author's Note:**

> My writing tumblr is [here](http://winterskywrites.tumblr.com/), if you're interested.


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